Biology subjects

Pither, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Pither, R..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Evaluating transboundary connectivity to support cross-border conservation between Canada and the United States

Landscape connectivity is considered critical for maintaining biodiversity. Many jurisdictions have identified the importance of considering connectivity in land use plans, and connectivity has recently been included as a metric in international conservation agreements. Consequently, there is a need for measures of connectivity that can be applied at national and international scales; however, evaluating connectivity across international boundaries remains a challenge due to inconsistencies in mapping data, and differences in sociopolitical systems. Canada and the United States of America (USA) share a long international border, and thus, there is a need and opportunity to develop transboundary connectivity plans for this international region. We extended a previously published pan-Canadian multi-species connectivity model into the USA to produce a seamless and high-resolution omnidirectional connectivity map for the two countries. We identify several significant animal movement corridors across the transboundary region and show that about 20% of connectivity hotspots in the region are covered by protected areas. We also demonstrate the potential of the map for identifying important areas for wildlife movement and the spread of zoonotic diseases. Our map will be useful for supporting transboundary connectivity conservation between Canada and the USA and our modelling approach can easily be applied to other countries to support their own connectivity initiatives.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Integrating carbon stocks and wildlife connectivity for nature-based climate solutions

Actions to protect against biodiversity loss and climate change will require a framework that addresses synergies between these interrelated issues. In this study we present methods for identifying areas important for the implementation of nature-based climate solutions and biodiversity conservation by intersecting high resolution spatial data for carbon storage and terrestrial connectivity. We explored the spatial congruence of carbon and connectivity in Ontario, Canada and examined effectiveness of current protected areas coverage. We found a weak positive relationship between carbon stocks and terrestrial connectivity; however, our maps revealed large hotspots, with high values of both indices, throughout the boreal forest and northern peatlands and smaller, isolated hotspots in the settled landscapes of the south. Location of hotspots varied depending on whether we considered forest or soil carbon. Further, our results show that current protected and conserved areas in Ontario only cover 13% of landscapes with the highest values for both carbon storage and connectivity. Protection or restoration of areas that maximize the co-benefits of carbon storage and connectivity would make significant contributions towards ambitious national targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve biodiversity.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Areas Important for Ecological Connectivity Throughout Canada

Governments around the world have acknowledged the importance of conserving ecological connectivity to help reverse the decline of biodiversity. In this study we employed recent methodological developments in circuit theory to conduct the first pan-Canadian analysis of multi-species connectivity for all terrestrial regions of the country, at a spatial grain sufficient to support local land-management decisions. We developed a movement cost surface with a limited number of thematic categories using the most recently updated land cover data available for the country. We divided the country into 17 tiles and used a wall-to-wall, omnidirectional mode of Circuitscape on each tile in order to assess ecological connectivity throughout entire landscapes as opposed to strictly among protected areas. The resulting raw current density map of Canada revealed heterogenous patterns of current density across the country, strongly influenced by geography, natural barriers, and human development. We included a validation analysis of the output current density map with independent wildlife data from across the country and found that mammal and herpetofauna locations were predicted by areas of high current density. We believe our current density map can be used to identify areas important for connectivity throughout Canada and thereby contribute to efforts to conserve biodiversity.

ecology↗